More from Seth Abramovitch
50 Reasons We (Still) Love Hollywood
Let’s not sugarcoat it — 2023 was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year for Hollywood. For starters, obviously, there were the strikes, which for nearly five months turned backlots into ghost towns, costing the industry an estimated $6 billion in lost wages and other collateral economic damage. Then there were the layoffs, beginning […]
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Devo Whips Sundance Into Shape With New Doc
There has only ever been one Devo — and there will likely never be another. The new wave band best known for their 1980 megahit “Whip It” was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1973, when two sets of brothers — Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh and Gerald and Bob Casale — met at Kent State University […]
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Cheryl Hines … as First Lady? The ‘Curb’ Star on Life After Larry and Marriage to RFK Jr.
It’s Christmas at the Kennedys’, and a happy sort of chaos has upended the family home, nestled in the affluent L.A. enclave of Mandeville Canyon. Conor, 29, the heartthrob son once romantically linked to Taylor Swift, has emerged from the backyard sauna and is wandering around the house in a towel. His striking sister, Kyra, […]
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Looks Like He Made It: Barry Manilow at 80
Barry Manilow is standing poolside at his Palm Springs home, a spectacular, eight-bedroom hillside villa with far-reaching views of the Coachella Valley. He’s taller than one might expect — a little over 6 feet — and rail-thin, which makes him appear even taller. Manilow is relaxed this morning, tapping one spindly leg to a tune […]
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Mary Kay Letourneau’s Ex-Husband Vili Fualaau Reacts to ‘May December’: “I’m Offended”
In Todd Haynes’ May December, Natalie Portman plays Elizabeth Berry, an actress obsessively researching a married couple with a scandalous past. The similarities between the couple’s story and the Mary Kay Letourneau case — which May December screenwriter Samy Burch has cited as her inspiration — are striking. But in an ironic twist, no one […]
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6 Norman Lear TV Episodes That Changed the World
TV giant Norman Lear, who died Dec. 5 at 101, leaves behind arguably the single most valuable body of work ever committed to the medium. On seminal series like All in the Family, Maude and The Jeffersons, Lear dared to tackle issues then considered unthinkable sitcom fodder — rape, abortion, homosexuality, racism, alcoholism — with a genius’ eye and ear for […]
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George Santos Expulsion: Paul Rudnick, Steven Cojocaru and More Hollywood Experts Offer Post-Congress Career Advice
Disgraced ex-congressman George Santos may have been expelled from the House of Representatives on Dec. 1 by a vote of 311-114 — but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the story for the alleged serial grifter and sometimes drag queen from New York. HBO Films has already optioned The Fabulist, a book about Santos’ […]
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Hollywood Rabbis Prepare for Fraught Hanukkah: “This Is the First Time I’ve Seen People Really Afraid”
The entertainment industry’s rabbis say that in the eight weeks since Oct. 7 — a horrific chapter in Jewish history encompassing Hamas’ massacre, Israel’s ensuing Gaza invasion and the worldwide response to it all — their congregations have been roiled by crises of identity and safety not experienced in America since the Holocaust. These faith […]
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Why Henry Kissinger Was “the Ultimate Starf—er”
Revered and reviled U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger, whose death at 100 on Nov. 29 was met with the widespread view that his realpolitik was responsible for some of this country’s worst global war crimes, loved American celebrity — both his own, an expression of state power, as well as that of others, especially performers. He was “the ultimate […]
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Hollywood Flashback: ‘Dreamgirls’ Made Beyoncé a Star on the Big Screen
On Dec. 1, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé will open in thousands of theaters nationwide, capturing the era-defining artist at the peak of her creative powers. The movie, which was shot during her sold-out Renaissance tour, is tracking for a domestic opening in the $17 million to $23 million range. But this isn’t Beyoncé’s first foray […]
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Why ‘Marvels’ Director Nia DaCosta Bailed on the Cast-and-Crew Screening
The cast of box office-beleaguered The Marvels couldn’t even attend its own cast-and-crew screening, held Nov. 8 at Westwood’s Fox Village Theatre. That’s because the screening began at 7:30 p.m. — but, even though the actors strike ended that night, SAG-AFTRA members had to wait until 12:01 a.m. before they could participate in studio events. Yet that doesn’t […]
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Hollywood Flashback: Abel Gance’s Silent ‘Napoléon’ Was Revolutionary
Napoleon Bonaparte has served as catnip to Hollywood almost as long as movies have existed. Next to don his funny hat is Joaquin Phoenix, who stars in Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, out Nov. 22. But the best Napoleon film remains the first. Napoléon is a 1927 silent movie written, directed and produced by Paris-born cinematic pioneer […]
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